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How to Improve Perceptions of Your Business and Quality of Service

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:49:49 -0800

Written by: Martin Gaik

It might seem extraordinarily difficult to beat your competition, particularly if they already have a large customer base and good brand recognition and have successfully managed their businesses for years. Is quality of service an answer?

Image Credits to Zach Klein

Most business people aim to grow their businesses, sell more and enjoy life. This sounds simple enough, but the "growing" part usually causes the most significant problem.

To a certain point, you can handle everything on your own, but as your company grows, you will have to learn how to employ people and delegate responsibilities. This is tricky because you must decide when and how to do so; if you delay for too long or hire the wrong people, the quality of your service will suffer. This is the same for every company.

The Perception of Your Business is What Makes Your Register Ring

It is in fact quite ironic that small companies make every effort to appear large, while big corporations spend huge amounts of money on marketing, public relations and advertising agencies to create more direct and personal connections with their customers. The problem is that these companies focus too much on appearances and not on delivering high quality products and services to their customers.

Perception is very important, but customers see you through your products and services. Of course, you must look and act like a healthy business, but instead of spending your money on advertising and wasting your time making false impressions, use these resources to improve your product or service and become genuinely interested in what your existing customers really think about you.

Remember that a happy customer will bring you much more business over a longer period of time than an ad in a newspaper or a nice brochure. Focus on quality, and money will follow.

Don't Add Insult to Injury

Mistakes happen, and customers become disappointed from time to time; this is normal in every business. People are buying from you because something made them believe that you are capable of delivering a good service. Don't stop! Fix the problems in a timely manner, and you will restore this faith in your brand.

When something stops working, such as your landline or Internet connection, you can ring your supplier to fix the problem for you. Unfortunately, when you call, it seems that no one is actually listening to you, or even worse - they cut you off before you even finish explaining the problem. This is a bad service.

Image Credits to katybate

If the support agent sincerely apologises and assures you that your problem will be fixed immediately, you would be happy, and you would consider this a good company. It is not the mistake or malfunction that angers people-it is when you, as a company, do not take responsibility for the problem. Every customer is important, and to every customer, their problems are critical. Keep this in mind, and you will quickly surpass your competition.

How to Handle a Dispute:

apologise for the situation, even if it is not your fault
take full ownership of the problem or assign a person to handle it
ring the customer with updates (even if there was no development in the case) to assure him or her that you are taking care of the problem
once the problem is solved, ring the customer to confirm it has been solved and apologise once again
if it was the customer's fault, do your best not to embarrass him or her and inform the customer that it happens to other people all the time
ask/investigate what could have been done better
implement the changes to prevent such problems in the future and improve response time

Organise and Act Promptly to Improve the Perception of Your Business

Image Credits to Garrett Albright

Another way to impress your customers and beat the competition (especially big companies) is to act promptly. Whenever you receive an e-mail, instant message, or phone call that you have missed, reply as quickly as possible. Be the first to the finish line every single time, and people will appreciate your efficiency.

Most people are emotional buyers-once they decide they want something, they want to have it right away. Nobody wants to send enquiries to receive a quote or to wait in the queue for a long time. If you offer your services more quickly, reply to your customers promptly and display the price information on your Website, you are better than most of the companies out there. You will be sending an invoice, while they will be sending out quotes.

To act this way, you must be well organised, and the more people you employ, the harder it will be. There are plenty of great tools to help you in this, like HighRise and BaseCamp from 37signals, but there is a learning curve, and whatever system you employ to organise your tasks, you must spend some time mastering it.

Build Two Way, Long Term, Business Relationships

You have to make the right impression, not only on your customers. All contacts you make while running your business should be equally important to you. You never know when a friend or a person you meet at a networking event will become your customer.

Image Credits to Caitlinator

After attending a networking event, do not send the same e-mail to all the people you've met. You might think people won't notice, but they usually do. You will not make a good impression if you fail to personalise your interactions with people. If you made an effort to participate in a networking event, spend some time writing personalised e-mails and don't try to sell. For example, set up a meeting to develop the relationship further. The other person might not be interested in your product, but his or her friends might seek your product later.

If someone sends you an e-mail, reply immediately. Don't postpone your response. Eventually, you will have to write back anyway, and it only takes a minute or two. This way, you are communicating to the other person that he or she is important to you. If you really have no time to reply immediately, mark the e-mail as unread, so you will notice it the next time you open your inbox.

If There Is Time Left, Don't Waste It

Running a business is difficult-it drains your energy and consumes all your time. It is too easy to forget about everything else. Be careful: if you act like a robot, you will start thinking like a robot. This will not help your business.

You should spend enough time with your family and take good care of your health. This is the real reason you run a business-to make your life more rewarding and happier. Take your time to enjoy life and all its benefits. This is the best way to enrich the quality of your company. The better you feel, the more you can achieve.

Great Offline Advertising Techniques for Website Promotion

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:56:28 -0800

Written by: Martin Gaik

Having a Website is mandatory if you want to succeed in business. Unfortunately, a Website on its own will not make any difference for you, unless you support it with offline advertising and real world promotion.

Maintaining great content and some search engine optimisation are vital to generating traffic online, but that is a long-term process. The gateway to success is a combination of offline and online efforts to market your business and advertise your products. The best part of offline advertising is that it requires no technical knowledge - just some creativity and social skills.

Offline advertising starts with your friends

Image Credits to Evil Erin

Most business people try to separate their work life from their family life. The last thing you want to do on weekends and evenings is to talk about your work. Unfortunately, this is not the best approach.

Develop and use your elevator pitch

If you run a business, it is in your best interest to make sure all your relatives and friends know exactly what you do. Once they are aware of how you operate, they will not hesitate to recommend you to their contacts. This is also a very good way to develop and practice your elevator pitch.

Find a way to describe what you do in simple, easy to understand language, and use every opportunity to mention your business in conversation. Make your pitch memorable, interesting and short.

Offer Incentives to get people talking

You can greatly stimulate word-of-mouth advertising by offering incentives for generated business. It is a very efficient practice with relatives and friends. Offer them some money for every generated lead, and they will remember to mention your name at every opportunity. If you do not want to pay them, give them some discount coupons to pass along.

Be active in your community

There are many ways to promote your business in your local community. You can sponsor your kids' football team or art display. That way, not only you will have great fun and spend some quality time with your children, but you will also receive recognition in your area and word-of-mouth marketing.

Use the Potential of Simple Things

Image Credits to √oхέfx™

Advertising space is usually quite expensive when you consider media like radio, newspapers and television. It would be foolish to invest big money in such advertising, when there are plenty of opportunities to advertise your Website around you.

The first thing you should do is put a Web address on your storefront. It should be clearly visible on your window display. You would be surprised how many people pass your place of business every day on their way to work or school. They do not have the time to go inside, but they will visit you online during their lunch break.

Promote Your Website on Paper

Start with your business cards. You should give them away every day to your future customers. Have your Web address and e-mail address included in your contact information. You can even add some links to your social profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Hubforce or Twitter. People will be more likely to check your offers online than to call you. It is also a good idea to add an online discount code on your cards to motivate people.

Remember to include your business cards in every new correspondence-people will probably throw away leaflets and everything that resembles an ad, but they tend to keep business cards for future reference.

Everything that leaves your business premises should promote your Website and your brand, including your letterhead, paper bags, invoices and envelopes.

Use Your Phone

Every time someone calls you, they should be reminded about your Website. Include it on your voicemail and on your "hold" music. Mention it each time somebody asks you for a pricelist or contact details. Visiting your Website should be the best way to obtain up-to-date information about your products, prices and processes.

Give Products to Generate More Business

Another great way to advertise your business is to give away small gadgets for everyday use. Start with pens and cups, or explore more creative options, like pen holders or customised calendars. You can also print your Website address on t-Shirts and give them to important customers. Make them funny and memorable-nobody wants to be a walking billboard, but people like to draw attention to themselves, so be creative. Use services like Cafepress.com to design and order great, inexpensive gifts.

Be Visible on the Road and at Home

Use your car to promote your Website. You can have it painted or attach a magnet with your branding and Website address. This way, you can turn traffic jams into marketing events. If you use your creativity at the same time, you can generate some word-of-mouth marketing. Make sure your signs are clean and readable. With today's technology, people don't write things down, but they use mobile phone cameras to make notes; they should be able to capture your entire message with one photo.

Once you have the car working for you, it's time to put some branding decals on your body. Print some funny t-Shirts with your logo and Website address on the back and wear them to casual meetings, barbecues and family gatherings. People will ask questions, and you will have an excuse to remind them about your business.

Advertise Your Website on Different Media Channels

You probably think that TV, radio and newspapers are quite expensive to use for advertising. You are right, but there are more creative ways to get exposure without spending money. These methods work even better than regular advertising because people have learned to ignore anything that resembles an ad.

Take Advantage of Radio Shows

Radio stations often engage listeners in discussions. Use the opportunity to call in, and plug your Web address during the introduction. You must be polite, and do not overdo this, or the radio station will cut it out. Don't let people recognise your real motives, and add something interesting to the discussion.

You can also take advantage of radio by approaching street interviewers. They are everywhere in city centres, especially on weekends. Most people try to avoid them, but you should not be shy and use such opportunities to plug your Web address and your brand during the radio interview.

Press as Your Way to Recognition

The press is now pickier than ever, so the chances of your submission making the headlines are slim, but sending regular press releases to all newspapers will improve your chances. Editors and reviewers are people too-they might not publish your article, but they might be interested in your product.

Small newspapers have problems with good, original content. You can use that opportunity and offer to write a column about your area of expertise for free, in exchange for a small plug mentioning your company and how to contact you under every article. After a few interesting articles, readers will start recognising you as an expert in your area.

Have Something to Say

If you are friendly, open and talkative, use it to promote your Website and your business. Take part in local events as a speaker and presenter. Everyone has something useful or funny to say. Think of something that will make a good impression on your audience, add some humour, and you will receive positive recognition from your community.

Joining interest or discussion groups is also very effective. You can establish great, friendly relationships with people from all walks of life. Even if they are not in the market for your products/services, they might know other people and recommend you as a friend.

Engage in Dialogue with Other Businesses

Don't pay too much attention to your competition. Focus on the companies that offer services or products that complement yours. Exchange discount coupons with them, so you can recommend their services to your customers and receive the same in return. You can combine marketing efforts with non-competing companies, sharing advertising space and its costs. Some things might be rather difficult or expensive on your own, but with a group of likeminded people, you can achieve so much more.

Network in a Meaningful Way

Networking is a great way to advertise your Website. Attending networking events is a smart move to bypass your competition. There are several rules to keep in mind, if you want to network effectively:

The aim of networking is to establish meaningful business relationships, not to directly sell your products.
All people are worth your time, even if they are not in the market for your services or products, because they have plenty of friends who might be.
Networking events are the first step, not the last-make sure to follow up and schedule further meetings with the people you meet.
Be a good listener and pay attention to everything other people say-this will distinguish you from everybody else.
Networking is about making a great first impression and giving something by which your acquaintances can remember you.

Use Direct Mail Wisely

One of the most common ways to advertise is to send mailshots with your offer. Unfortunately, this method is not very effective, and people become annoyed with all the spam that lands on their desk every day. Most people turn to other advertising because of that, instead of addressing the real problem.

Image Credits to kyz

Direct mail can be very effective when done the right way. If you put some effort into writing letters that are personalised (really personalised!), you will get great results. Instead of spending large sums of money on postal services, use that money to pay someone to write a few extremely well-targeted and personalised letters. Pick your targets carefully, and your response rate will go through the roof. Treat your potential customers as close friends-be honest and engaging. Wait a few days after sending the letter, and follow it up with a friendly phone call.

Be Refreshing in Your Advertising

There are many more ways to promote your Website offline, and this is the real battlefield for all companies. Your imagination and creativity are the only limitations. Entrepreneurs discover new ways to promote their businesses every day. To create real buzz around your company, you can:

project your business name and Web address on a building during late hours
print bookmarks and put them in the right books at the public library
ask in internet cafes to put your logo and Web address on their screen savers
pay street performers to plug your brand into their artwork
use corkboards in shops and offices to promote your Website
generate more ideas using your imagination and resources

Use every opportunity to promote your Website, and be consistent. Sometimes, results will be delayed. If you wish to learn more about effective advertising techniques, book a free consultation with us, and we will offer you invaluable, personalised advice.

Definitive Guide To Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Business People

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:05:34 -0700

Written by: Martin Gaik

The whole world is searching for your products every day. The only thing that separates you from sales is the visibility of your content on the global network. Search engine optimisation (SEO) can give you the upper hand over your competition.

Relevancy of Internet Traffic and SEO

Image Credits to Hamed Saber

Search engine optimisation - as the name suggests - is about optimising your website's content and structure to make it easy for search engines to process and index your site. Your main goal is to get a search engine to perceive your content in the same way in which you perceive it. It is worth the effort, as it will bring relevant traffic to your website, generating new leads.

In the real world, if you run a Pharmacy, you don't want people to come to you looking for car parts. You don't sell car parts; you don't advertise them. It's irrelevant traffic on your premises. The same goes for your website - the number or frequency of visitors are not that important, but their relevancy is. Before you hire an SEO expert, it's best to fully understand what you are paying for: you do not want somebody to drive traffic to your website; you want somebody to optimise it for a specific target audience. Optimally, your traffic should only consist of people who are interested in your products or services. This alone can bring you profit. Additionally, it is worth keeping in mind that the traffic coming to you from social networks is as important as the traffic coming from search engines.

How Google and Other Search Engines Work

The main goal of every search engine is to present accurate, relevant and up to date content for every search query. The search engine has to check and score each website on a regular basis to ensure the quality of displayed results. This task is called 'indexing'. It basically entails a search engine visiting your website, analysing your content, following your links and checking your authority to calculate how high or low your website should appear on the page of search results and for which specific search queries.

The more focused is your content on a particular subject, the higher it will score for relevant search queries. But content alone doesn't shape the whole situation. Your authority is the second most important factor. In Google, each website has a PageRank, which defines its position in search engine rankings.

If a website with higher PageRank links to you, it gives some of its PageRank to you. The caveat of PageRank is that only pages relevant to yours (presenting similar content) will substantially affect your PageRank by linking to you, and only if you do not link back. This means that the only way to improve your PageRank is to create valuable content (linkbait) to generate incoming links organically.

In summary: your content and your PageRank are the areas on which you have to focus if you want your website to score high in Google (and all other major search engines).

Search Engine Optimisation and Your Content

Image Credits to jetheriot

When writing the content for your website, make sure that each page/sub-page is focused on one aspect/product or service. Or, simply put, concentrate each page's content around one keyword or key-phrase. You have to do some research to find the best keywords and key-phrases for your subject using tools like Wordtracker Keyword Suggestion Tool and Google Keyword Tool. Your aim is to use this keyword and related keywords within the content of the page.

Most Important SEO Factor - the Title and Description

Currently, the most important factor of search ranking is the Title of your page. Make sure the first words in your title are the keywords on which you are focusing. For example, "Dickey's Pharmacy - Painkillers" is not the best option if your keyword is 'painkillers'. "Painkillers - Dickey's Pharmacy" is a better variant. Keep the title short and inviting; it's the first thing people see in search results. Make sure you use your keyword in the 'description tag' of your page, as well. This is what Google displays below the title of your website on its listing.

Headings and Subheadings

Your content should be well-divided by headings and subheadings. Not only does it improve its readability, but headings play an important role in search engine optimisation. Use your keyword and its variations in headings sparingly, and make sure it makes sense to a visitor. There is no point in sacrificing the quality of your content for SEO purposes. You want people to visit your website, stay on it, and come back in the future. They certainly won't if they feel cheated, and Google will penalise you for keyword stuffing.

Incoming and Outgoing Links

Image Credits to sebleedelisle

Getting incoming links is an ongoing, long-term process. You want people to link to you and share your content with others. Instead of finding ways to convince people to link to you, focus on your content and make it interesting, up-to-date and easy to share. Include bookmarklets to the major social bookmarking sites using tools like ShareThis! and AddThis. You can also submit your website to major directories like DMOZ and local Golden Pages.

There is no point in having hundreds of outgoing links on your website. At the end of the day, you want your visitors to stay on your website and not go somewhere else. If you link to other sites, use 'rel=nofollow' in your link tags. This will keep Google from passing your PageRank onto them. Be fair, though, and don't use 'rel=nofollow' if the website you are linking to deserves some credit.

Website Structure and Sitemaps

Image Credits to gigile

It's your web designer's task to produce valid code for your website, but it's your task to decide its structure. Search engines are very smart and fast in the way in which they index your pages, but they are also very sensitive to mistakes in the website's code and structure. If they cannot recognize the code and differentiate it from your website's actual content, they give up and go somewhere else. This does not mean a website has to pass the W3C validation to be indexed, but it shouldn't have hundreds of errors, which will impact your website's position in search engines.

Search engine optimisation is very important in relation to the structure of your website (the way all its sections interlink with each other). Search engines might start indexing your website from one of your sub-pages, and - they should have no problem digging into the whole website following links from there. To ensure this, your website should have an 'xml sitemap'. This is a file containing links to all the sections of your website. Once Google knows your sitemap, it will index all pages listed on it.

Common Sense in Search Engine Optimisation

Your website is designed to support your business and generate more sales. With this picture in mind, your visitor plays the most important part, so the content and structure of your website should be optimised mainly for your visitor's convenience. You will find many websites on the internet that are so optimised for search engines, their content is almost unreadable due to repetitive keywords and key-phrases in every sentence. It's fruitless: search engines don't pay. Customers pay, so make them feel comfortable when they visit your website.

White Hat and Black Hat SEO

Image Credits to timsepulveda

Google does a pretty good job assessing content. Being on the first page of Google results can generate a lot of sales, so companies are paying huge money to get to the top. SEO experts are constantly finding new ways to achieve great results and force Google to index them higher. Some "experts" employ techniques to cheat search engines. This is called "Black Hat SEO". Google, meanwhile, is getting better and better at recognizing genuine content and punishing websites containing SEO spam.

Since it's the most popular search engine in the world, disappearing from Google would be disastrous for your company. You should never risk employing unprofessional SEO companies. You can recognise a bad SEO expert when:

they guarantee that you will get to the top of Google in xxx days
they guarantee that you will show up on Google in xxx days
they say they will submit your website to 10,000 search engines
they promise to generate hundreds of incoming links in mere weeks
they do not show any interest in your content
they do not consult your web developer before editing your website
they put dozens of links in your footer, stuffed with keywords that do not make sense
they do not conduct any research into your products and services, or your current traffic

If any of above happens, it's a sign you should be looking somewhere else. Professional SEO companies are honest, curious and creative.

Do you have an experience with search engine optimisation? Share your stories with us by leaving a comment below!

4 Marketing Rules for the Development of Your New Website

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:10:27 -0700

Written by: Martin Gaik

Whether you are a seasoned internet user or a total newbie, you must understand some fundamental laws of online marketing in order to plan successful website development for your business.

It does not really matter whether you are building the website on your own or with professional help-these rules should be observed to obtain the full benefits of maintaining a website. The main goal of any business website is to generate leads and to enforce brand awareness, not simply to look good.

1. Be Effective in Conveying Your Message

When you design your business cards, you have a goal-you want people to be able to contact you in every possible way at any given time. You wouldn't scrap your phone number just to show a bigger logo, just as you wouldn't make your business card unreadable to express your creativity. That would defy its purpose.

Website Development in a Nutshell

Websites also have the purpose of generating leads and spreading the word about your brand. You should plan your website development with this principle in mind-your website should be stylish, creative and original, but most importantly, effective. Avoid any changes to your branding elements, like logo and taglines, for the sake of designing a more visually attractive website.

Use Effective Colours

The internet is a colourful medium, so use it to your advantage. You shouldn't pick your colours based solely on your preferences-investigate what works well in your area. Browse through the websites of your competitors and compare your site with theirs. Examine the biggest, most successful brands from your industry; these companies spent millions on marketing research, so they have a pretty good idea of what works well-they employ the experts.

Make It Simple and Accessible

Image Credits to Rhian vK

When planning the development of your website, think of all the people who will visit it. Use readable fonts, simple language and contrasting colours. Your website will be visited by minors, the elderly and disabled people-they should all be able to find easily the information they seek. There are tools you can use to test your website, like CheckMyColours.com or GrayBit.com to test how it would look to people with visual disabilities, and OnlineUtility to evaluate the simplicity of your writing.

Use Structural Elements

However you write your content, divide it in small chunks. Five or six sentences are enough to convey a single thought. Bear in mind that the attention spans of internet users are very short. Thus, be concise and to the point. Use headings, subheadings and lists to create interest and to make your content approachable. Internet users are skimming, not reading, so use your headings effectively to sell your product.

2. Structure Your Website Well During Website Development

Image Credits to tallpomlin

Most of your visitors are looking for specific information, and it should be available to them within a maximum of three clicks. The navigation of your website should be simple and straightforward. A menu at the top of the page is enough. It is sometimes tricky to accomplish, but you must limit the amount of your content if you want people to read it. Having more than six main sections on your website is confusing. It's better to discard some excessive content in order to facilitate readership.

Give More, But Only When Needed

Shorter pages are more effective than long ones. They are easy to skim. Of course, there will be people looking for more information, and there is no reason not to provide it. The best way to do so is to create a FAQ section, where you give detailed answers to frequently asked questions; alternatively, you can provide a link below the main content to another small subpage with more details.

Differentiate Your Links

All links and navigational elements should be differentiated from other content. You are not tied to generic blue underlines-you can match the colour and style of your website, but be consistent and use the same methods to differentiate links in all areas of your website.

Develop Your Website One Page at a Time

Focus on one aspect of a product or service in each section. Your website should be logically structured, so when a visitor clicks on a menu item, he will find what he expects to find. It even helps in search engine optimisation to dominate each page with one keyphrase.

In Terms of Website Development, Less is More

If you want to implement a search engine on your website, think twice! Unless you are selling multiple products and services, there is no need to have a search engine, especially if it's not going to display relevant results. It will only confuse your visitors.

A good and common practice is to put all the links to your website in the footer. That way, all your content is accessible from every subpage, and search engines can easily find their way through your content.

3. Develop Your Website with Content in Mind

Your content is the only way you communicate with your visitor, and it has to function and communicate well in order to convert a visitor into a lead. If you try to hard-sell using your website, you will get nowhere-the idea is to motivate people to buy without forcing them.

Image Credits to luisvilla

Use Call to Action Generously

Use call to action throughout your website content and layout. You never know which part of your website will influence your visitor to buy, so spread your "buy now", "sign up" and "subscribe" links generously throughout your site, but don't overdo it. Two clearly visible call to action links in each section are more than enough. Make them big, bold and visible.

Focus on Your Frontpage

Your frontpage is the most important area of your website. For most of your visitors, it will be the only part of your website they ever see, so maximise its full potential. Don't waste time presenting features of your product. Focus on benefits-people are buying solutions to their problems, not tools. It is your duty to convey that they will solve a problem easier, faster and cheaper using your product. If you are selling a fishing rod, don't show a rod; instead, show a big fish they can catch using it!

Avoid Plagiarism

Sometimes it might be tempting to copy somebody else's content. That's one of the worst things you can do because it is too easy to lose your reputation online, and Google penalises duplicate content. It pays to be unique-that way, people will never confuse you with somebody else.

4. Network and Interact with Your Visitors

Website development is a difficult task, but it is very rewarding to see all the emails, comments and reviews popping up in your inbox. Your new website should give your visitors many ways of contacting you. Providing your e-mail and phone number is not enough.

implement a contact form, so people without email can get in touch with you or receive a return call
allow people to subscribe to your mailing list/newsletter, as this is simply the best way to turn them into paying customers in the future
allow people to take part in interesting surveys, comment on your articles or review your products (you can moderate such comments)
provide links to share and bookmark your content through social networks like Twitter, Facebook, HubForce or LinkedIn

Provide Regularly Updated Content

The best way to spread the word about your business and encourage people to link to you is to provide great, interesting and relevant content on a regular basis. Publishing short (300 words) articles will solicit a lot of attention and will bring your visitors back... along with their friends. That is the best marketing technique you can employ in your website development.

How Domain Names are Shaping the Future of Your Business

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:31:03 -0700

Written by: Martin Gaik

When starting a business we make important decisions, like selecting a good business name or logo. Picking the right domain name is just as important and making a mistake can cost you a lot of time and money.

When selecting a business name, you should first check if it's already being used by some other company. You should do so for several reasons, but primarily you just want to be original and you do not want people to have any confusion when hearing the name of your business - it is your brand after all. It is at this beginning stage when you should also check the availability of the domain name.

The reason is simple - imagine you are opening a toy store with the aspiration to become a global network one day. You set up your business, file all the paperwork and only then check on the internet. You type your business name into the address bar only to find that it is already taken... serving adult content. That's just one of the many reasons you should check on the internet when selecting your business name, but let's get to the basics first.

Web Address or Domain Name?

Image Credits to doug888888

Currently, most serious businesses have a website or at least an e-mail account with its own domain name. Some people decide to use free e-mail, which looks very unprofessional, but there is often a reason why they do not opt for a paid domain name. They are frequently confused by all the technical jargon and some of them don't even know what the words 'domain name' mean. They are unaware that a domain name is the website address you type into the address bar.

Your domain name represents the location of your website on the internet. Every computer connected to the web is assigned an IP address, similar to GPS coordinates. Your domain name is just like your regular home address-it defines your location using an easy to remember address, consisting of words and numbers, so that everyone can find you. It would be much harder to remember '74.125.45.100', which is why you use www.google.com - much easier isn't it? Yet you can still access Google by typing its IP number into the address bar.

Unfortunately, most of the short, simple domain names are already taken. It is not easy to find a good web address anymore and therefore creativity must kick in and the result is that you hear about websites called www.flickr.com, www.digg.com or www.del.icio.us. You can be as creative as you wish, but there are still restrictions.

First of all, only letters, numbers and hyphens are allowed in domain names and it's actually only in the first part of the domain name where you can be creative. The second part of a domain name is called a "top level domain" (TLD) and you can pick one from the list during the registration process - there are over 20 generic top-level domains like .com, .net or .org and over 200 country code top-level domains like .ie, .au or .pl. Your new web address can be long, but it is counterproductive to register very long domain names. Most registrars won't allow you to register domain names longer than 62 characters.

All domain names are case insensitive. This means that it does not matter if you type in HubForce.com or hubforce.com - you will still end up at the same place. However, this can lead to some big problems and confusion, like the domain name Who Represents (www.whorepresents.com)

How to Pick the Right Domain Names?

Image Credits to pshutterbug

When looking for a domain name, you can easily check if it is available or already taken by using websites like www.who.is, domize.com - the former will also give you the owner information if the domain is taken, when it was registered and when it will be renewed. But how should you decide which address is best for you?

If you are looking for a website for your company, the choice is simple - try your company name with .com. If it is taken and you are at the initial stage of starting your business, consider changing your business name. It will help you avoid serious problems in the future.

If you are stuck with a name, then try to be creative and do your best to avoid confusion. Putting 'the', 'i' or 'e' at the beginning of the domain is not enough. If your business is called Silver Boomerang, and silverboomerang.com is taken, registering thesilverboomerang.com is not a good idea. Most people will forget to add 'the' or any other letters at the beginning and will end up on the wrong website.

Your domain name should be unique so that you are never confused with somebody else - this will help you build your brand and improve word-of-mouth marketing. It should be short and memorable. You should have no problem spelling it out on the phone and it should be easy to type. Avoiding letters like 'q', 'z', 'x' or 'c' is a good idea, as they are difficult to type fast. Further, your domain name does not have to be connected with what you do or who you are at all - the majority of successful websites use words that are memorable but do not represent what they do.

In addition, your logo should be creative enough to grab others' attention and them help remember the address of your website. It is good to invest in a professionally designed logo that will play well with your website address - this will help you build your brand and differentiate your business from the competition.

SEO for Domain Names

When you are starting your business, you are putting a lot of effort into building something that will last and grow. Your business name and your web address should not be tied to the technology of today. For example, some years ago companies registered as 'AAA Cars Sales' or 'AAA Renovations' just to get to the top of their category in alphabetical phone books.

Now people are doing what they can to get to the top of search engine listings, not knowing what kind of technology everyone will be using in 20 years time. It is important for your business to be at the top but don't sacrifice your image and professionalism in the process. You can do well with the search engines by other means than having a bland and boring web address. It really doesn't look so good when you use something like 'professional-budget-window-cleaning.com'.

Enriching your domain name with keywords is a good idea if done right - look at problogger.com or engadget.com, but the main point is to be original and memorable.

Image Credits to Danard Vincente

If you want to use a keyword in your domain name, the right way to do it is to take several keywords that fit with your offerings and then start brainstorming them on your own or with relatives. Add prefixes or suffixes but avoid using hyphens, digits or multiword phrases - they often confuse people and cause misspellings. Handy tools like www.makewords.com or www.dotomator.com may greatly assist you in this process. Try using one word or two at most and avoid 'the'. Once you have several options, check their availability and then have a good night's sleep before you actually register it.

How to Register a Domain Name

If you found a really good domain name, you should conduct a few checks before you register it. The first check should be obvious - type it in into the Google and Yahoo search engines and see what comes up. Spammers abuse domain names and then abandon them after every spam fighting site, browser and search engine bans them from their indexes. The last thing you need is a domain name that will bury your content instead of promoting it. Avoid web addresses containing names of other registered products and trademarks on the market to prevent legal problems, especially if you plan to operate globally.

Most of the domains registered today were already used at some stage in the past. This can affect how your domain name will work. After initially checking on search engines you should use the 'Way Back Machine' (www.archive.org) to check what was hosted under your selected domain name months and years ago. It would be risky, for example, to use a domain name for a toy store that was serving adult content in the past.

Some online directories, caches and archives may still contain the old data and display it. Once you are ready to register, use one of the big name registrars like GoDaddy, NameCheap or Register365 (especially for Irish domain names). Alternatively, use a web design company that will take care of all the procedures and will advise you on your options, like Aeronstudio.

What is your experience with domain names? Do you know of any good stories? Leave your comments using the form below. 8gf9qhp46u